In the recently enacted Federal Courts Jurisdiction and Venue Clarification Act of 2011 (JVCA), Congress made important revisions to the removal, jurisdiction and venue provisions in Title 28 of the U.S. Code that apply to any action commenced on or after Jan. 6, 2012.1 Several of the most prominent amendments concern the procedures for removal of actions to federal court. Most notably, the amendments resolve a circuit split concerning the timing for removal in multi-defendant lawsuits, and allow some flexibility in removing an action based on diversity jurisdiction when the amount in controversy is not plainly stated in the state court complaint.
The revisions had been under consideration since at least 2006. In enacting the JVCA, Congress was responding to critical commentary from academics and advocacy groups and to the expressed views of judges that the prior rules “force[d] them to waste time determining jurisdictional issues at the expense of adjudicating underlying litigation.”2
‘Last-Served’ Rule
